17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Tributes flow for ‘unflinchingly honest' poet Paul Durcan on his death at age 80
Mr Durcan who was born in Dublin in 1944, was one of Ireland's best known contemporary poets.
He published more than 20 books and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the Irish Book Awards in 2014.
He was hailed as an unflinchingly honest and witty poetic voice by Tánaiste Simon Harris.
'In the quiet spaces of ordinary moments, he found inspiration. His body of work was both accessible and deep, and this is shown in his fantastic final selection of 80 of his finest poems, published in celebration of his 80th birthday last year,' he said in a tribute.
'With his passing, Ireland has lost one of its most distinctive and authentic voices — and his work, which often turned the mundane into the extraordinary, will live on for generations.'
The Poetry Society, which publishes The Poetry Review, described Paul Durcan as 'an extraordinary storyteller'.
Mr Durcan won many accolades, including the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1975.
His family said he would be sadly missed by his wife Nessa and his daughters Sarah and Siabhra, his son Michael and his sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, and his nine grandchildren.
Speaking to the Irish Times, his daughter Siabhra said that her father's passing was 'very sudden' but that he had been unwell in recent years.
